Champagne 1996 - an overview

by Tom Stevenson

1996 is an extraordinary Champagne vintage. It has been compared to 1928, but no Champagne vintage on record produced grapes that averaged 10.3% potential alcohol with 10g/litre total
acidity. There are many vintages when the grapes have ripened to a higher degree (a potential of 8.5% can be physiologically ripe in Champagne, and 10% is super-vintage ripeness,
whereas 10.5% is unripe for Chardonnay or Pinot Noir in the most famous New World wine areas). But to get both potential alcohol and acidity in double-digits is unheard of, even for
Champagne's unique terroir.

Getting technical about acidity for a moment: the tartaric component was an excellent 8.3g/l, and to find 9.3g/l of malic acid and a pH of 2.97 in such ripe grapes is unique. At my
Christie's 1995 Champagne Masterclass in December 2001, I attempted to summarise the previous decade in a simplistic chart:

1990 one of the two most unusual vintages in the century1991 non-vintage year1992 not classic, but strict selection yielded classic vintage Champagne1993 not classic, but strict selection yielded classic vintage Champagne1994 non-vintage year1995 generally perceived as a classic vintage1996 one of the two most unusual vintages in the century1997 should be similar to 1992 1998 should be similar to 19931999 non-vintage year *2000 non-vintage year *2001 the worst year since 19842002 thankfully, this will be a very good vintage
* a small number of excellent vintage Champagnes have been produced through very strict selection.

In the masterclass I said my only reservation about 1996 is that it might be too good. Generally, once over 9.5% potential alcohol, the higher the acidity the better vintage, but so
many of the base wines in 1996 were so marked I was a little concerned six years ago. To make a great Champagne you need relatively neutral base wines, with all the potential
complexity/finesse being created during the second fermentation, autolysis and post-disgorgement processes such as the Maillard reaction (a reaction which involves sugars and amino
acids to alter flavour and colour).

There are some great, truly extraordinary 1996s (thankfully, as that is the subject of December 2003's masterclass!), but I do worry that we will find some disappointments. In the
meantime, as I'm late with both the revised Christie's Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine and my annual fizz guide, I will provide a list of the best 1996s I have tasted
over the last 12 months, with the scores they will get in the forthcoming edition: